Facebook Launches Promoted Posts For Pages

Facebook pages with more than 400 likes now have another advertising option in the form of the promote button the social network announced in test form in late April, as its rollout was confirmed on the Facebook Marketing page Wednesday.

According to the Facebook guide, after entering the details of the post, page administrators of pages with more than 400 likes can click the promote button and set their desired budget, for the lifetime of the post (not a daily budget), and the social network will generate an estimated reach at that budget figure. Once page admins determine a suitable budget, hitting the save button will launch the promoted posts.

All types of posts form pages can be promoted, including status updates, photos, offers, videos, and questions. And the same steps can be followed for any posts created by the page over the past three days. The guide added:

When you promote a post, it will be shown in the news feeds of more of the people who like your page than you would reach normally. Friends of the people who have interacted with your post will also be more likely to see the story in their news feeds for up to three days from when the post was first created.

News feed is a place for people to see the most recent and popular content from the people and pages they’re connected to. To make sure news feed is filled with the most relevant stories, you can only promote posts within three days from when they’re created.

Promoted posts can also be targeted by language or location by clicking on the public button when creating the post and adjusting the options as the page admin sees fit.

And promotions can be paused and restarted by clicking on the “promoted for $x” button in the bottom-right-hand corner of the post, and then clicking on the gear menu in the bottom-left-hand corner and selecting “stop promotion” or “resume promotion.” The post’s budget can be adjusted by following the first step and then clicking on the pencil icon next to “budget.”

Once the promoted post goes live, page admins can access data on the number of Facebook users who have seen the posts, as well as the percentage of users who like their page who have also seen the posts. Those data are available in the bottom-right-hand corner of the posts.

Users must be logged in as their pages to access the feature, and all actions performed while logged in as their pages will appear on the social network with their pages as the source, and not the individual users.

The social network also offered some best practices for optimal results from promoted posts:

Vibrant photos and videos: People tend to respond to bright, simple and attention-grabbing images, particularly of people using your product or service. For example, you could promote a photo of new products you want to sell. Keep in mind that your page’s profile picture will show up next to your promoted post so everyone knows it’s connected to your business.

Offers: Promoting an offer can help increase the number of people who see and claim your offer. This can help to drive more people to your business and increase engagement on your page. Learn more about offers.

Exclusive events or news: Promoting posts with exclusive content gets people to talk about your page and share your posts with their friends. This could be a daily special on the menu, an in-store event, or the launch of an upcoming product.

Questions: Promoting a question tells people that you value their opinion. For example, you could promote a question asking people to vote on a new product or service, which encourages people to have a direct impact on your business decisions.

Nothing has changed about how your posts are shared with the people who like your page.

A lot of activity happens on Facebook, and most people only see some of it in their news feeds. They may miss things when they’re not on Facebook, or they may have a lot of friends and pages, which results in too much activity to show all of it in their news feed.

If you don’t promote your post, many of the people connected to your page may still see it. However, by promoting a post, you’re increasing its potential reach so an even larger percentage of your page audience and the friends of those interacting with your post will see it.

Readers: How do you think Facebook users will react when promoted posts start showing up in their news feeds?

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